Another way to get some Mid-Side processing into your life is with Live’s Utility device. Have a look at theWidth control:
When Width is set to 0%, Utility will eliminate the sides of a stereo signal and pass through only the mono information. At 200%, the middle is discarded and only the purely stereo information is passed through.
If you haven’t played with this before, try it out on some fully mixed songs. It can be very enlightening to discover the sides sound like without the middle. For mashups and performances where you’re combining multiple tracks it can come in handy as well. I’ve had experiences where eliminating the sides gets makes it much easier to isolate a vocal, for example.
Utility can also be used in the way I mentioned yesterday – to exaggerate the stereo width of a part. Instead of using the EQ to boost side frequencies, try bumping up the Width a bit:
Bear in mind that when you do this, you’re not just boosting the sides – you’re also decreasing the amount of middle, so there will be a greater sensation of the center dropping out.
